NC State
Georgia Tech
Pack Takes 79-74 Win over Yellow Jackets
2/26/2011 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Feb. 26, 2011
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RALEIGH, N.C. - Sophomore Scott Wood scored a season-high 20 points and senior Tracy Smith ignited an 11-point run midway through the second half as NC State held off Georgia Tech Saturday afternoon at the RBC Center.
Freshmen Lorenzo Brown added 13 points and Ryan Harrow 10 for the Wolfpack, which won for the third time in its last five games.
"We played much smarter today," head coach Sidney Lowe said. "We still made some mistakes, but I thought we were much better and that's what I told them after the game. We gave good effort, we controlled the tempo, ran the clock down when we needed to and we didn't force shots at the end of the game."
With the victory, the Wolfpack (15-13 overall, 5-9 ACC) moved up to eighth place in the ACC standings, tied with Miami and Virginia, which both lost Saturday afternoon.
NC State built as much as a 12-point lead late in the first half, but allowed the Yellow Jackets to retake the lead early in the second. The game was tied at 54 with 10:49 remaining on the clock when sophomore Richard Howell made a free throw to kick off an 11-0 run.
Smith, the team's most experienced player, led the charge with six points in the run. But Wood also contributed to the win, especially with his backcourt steal from Georgia Tech's Glen Rice and layup in the final two minutes of the game.
Howell, returning to the lineup after missing the Pack's last game with a concussion, scored three points and grabbed seven rebounds for the Wolfpack. Sophomore Jordan Vandenberg contributed a career-high and crowd-pleasing eight points and three rebounds.
Vandenberg, who saw increased playing time against North Carolina in Howell's absence, had scored just four points in the Pack's last 17 games, all against the Tar Heels. Vandenberg played in nine of those games, but did not participate in eight of them.
"We have worked with Jordan to help him earn more playing time," Lowe said. "He's done a great job every time we have put him in there."
Georgia Tech was led by Iman Shumpert's game-high 21 points, while Mfon Udofia added 13 and Rice added 12.
"We dug ourselves a hole by not rebounding," Georgia Tech coach Paul Hewitt said. "We did a much better job of that in the second half and we had some chances, but [NC State] did a better job of closing than we did."
The Wolfpack returns to action Tuesday at Virginia in a 7 p.m. contest, followed by the regular-season finale next Sunday against Florida State at the RBC Center.
• By Tim Peeler, tim_peeler@ncsu.edu.
